In many modern day books, movies, and television shows, there is symbolism hidden to help the readers, or viewers, to fully understand the characters. Many people can use this to their advantage while watching movies such as Forrest Gump. In the movie Forrest Gump, there are four main characters seen throughout the movie. These include Forrest Gump, Bubba Blue, Jenny Curran, and Lieutenant Dan Taylor. While watching the movie, the viewer will see many signs of symbolism that make the movie make more sense, and allow the viewer to fully understand the characters. While watching the movie Forrest Gump, some viewers may notice some of the symbolism around the character Bubba Blue. There are many things Bubba did that help to tell more about his character. In the movie, Bubba and Forrest are very good friends, and Forrest is very devastated when Bubba died during the war. Later when Forrest was visiting Bubba’s grave, there are birds chirping in the background, which symbolizes freedom from the war. On top of his grave are yellow flowers, which are to mean decay of Bubba. Forrest begins to talk to Bubba’s grave about the new shrimp boat he bought, to live out Bubba’s dream of owning his own shrimping boat. When Forrest goes to visit Bubba’s family, they are dressed in blue. Mrs. Blue and two of her children have blue on, and the others are playing with a blue ball. The house also has blue painted on it, and this means they are a truthful, secure, and happy family. The movie Forrest Gump has a main character called Forrest Gump. He goes through many hardships, including losing the love of his life, and going to the military. While in the military Forrest works under a man named Lieutenant Dan Taylor, and they become close friends. After the war is over and both Forrest and Lieutenant Dan go home, Forrest starts his own shrimp company, called Bubba Gump Shrimp, and named after his dearest friend Bubba Blue, whom he lost in the war. Lieutenant Dan made a promise to work with Forrest on his shrimp boat after the got out of the military, if they ever did, and so as a man of his word, Lieutenant Dan went to work with Forrest. In many scenes of them both on the boat, they are wearing different colors to represent
In the movie, Forrest Gump, symbolism is an outstanding feature that is talentedly expressed many times by Director Zemeckis. Shown at the beginning and at the end of the movie was a white feather. The feather symbolizes Forrest’s child-like innocence and purity. While the feather is shown again at the end with Forrest Jr. representing the pureness and innocence of life. In multiple
In the same paragraph that discusses the grandmother’s outfit, the colors red, blue, purple, and green are introduced. These colors are mentioned for the first time when discussing the grandmother’s clothes and the mother’s kerchief, and they repeated throughout the entire story. A connection can certainly be seen with the grandmother’s blue dress, because when the reader is first introduced to The Misfit, he is wearing blue jeans, and after his sidekicks kill Bailey, they take his shirt embroidered with blue parrots. It may not be easy to pick up on the repetition of these colors, but they are most
Another such example, of the use of color to point out the differences in social class, is the use of contracting colors. Many of the people who are dressed in white and light colors are those who have power and money. Other people are dressed in darker colors, perhaps due to the fact that they would have to wash their own clothes rather than being able to have them washed. Pappy O’Daniel, the governor of Mississippi, and his campaign staff are one such example. In particular is a scene in which they are discussing the upcoming election and what should be done on the porch of what can be assumed is Pappy’s house. Not only are the men dressed in whites but the porch and home are also painted white. Pappy is an exemplification of power and money, he is governor and also a well to do businessman. Other people associated with Pappy carry out this theme throughout the film as well. The radio station, which Pappy owns (or at least finances) is seen several times and is painted white. Long shots of the radio station are used not to show smallness, as will be discussed later, but to show contrast between the building and the brown dirt surrounding it.
What is sociological imagination? Our textbook describes sociological imagination as the ability to see our private experiences, personal difficulties, and achievements as, in part, a reflection of the structural arrangements of society and the times in which we live. The movie entitled Forrest Gump is a great example of sociological imagination. In this paper, I will cite examples from the movie and tell how they correlate with sociological imagination. Sociological imagination allows us examine the events of our lives and see how they intersect with the wider context of history and tradition of the society
Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald’s use of symbolism helps create an ambiance of longing. He dominantly uses color to represent and convey specific messages to the reader. These colors are woven so seamlessly into the story that one would not think very much of them. However, they play a large role in shaping the novel. Fitzgerald uses yellow to represent money, and Gatsby’s desire to be included among the elite “old money” social class. His longing is shown through his yellow car and his yellow suit. Although yellow represents a major aspect of the novel, the green light at the end of Daisy’s pier holds the most significance. When Nick says, “Gatsby believed in the green light … ” (Fitzgerald 180), he is referring to Gatsby’s American Dream and how he believed that he would one day be reunited with Daisy. Green expresses the same feelings
Forrest Gump is a movie that follows a man throughout the story of his life. It starts out with Forrest Gump waiting at a bus stop when the bus arrives and a woman steps out and sits down next to him. He begins to talk to her and he offers her some chocolate. The way he talks hints to the fact that he is not the most intelligent person. He then starts to talk about her shoes which leads him to a flashback of his childhood in Greenbow, Alabama in about 1945. From there he starts to talk about everything that has happened in his life that has led him to where he is now. He talks about meeting Jenny on his first day of school, his running getting him a football scholarship for college, enlisting in the army and meeting Bubba, getting a medal of honor, and playing ping pong against China.
The color blue is another clear example of the theme of deceptive appearances. The color blue represents depression, unhappiness, and loneliness. Gatsby’s first piece of wealth is a blue coat given to him by Dan Cody, signifying the beginning of his life as a rich person. In addition, Gatsby's blue lawn, and blue garden, where he hosts his extravagant parties reveals his sadness and loneliness everytime Daisy does not show. All of this blue represents an aspect of Gatsby's personality and identity that he tries to hide. Gatsby is known by the public because of his extravagant parties even though Gatsby does not attend them. Because of this, everyone speculates on the real identity of Gatsby. Gatsby has worked hard his entire childhood and development to achieve his dream of wealth and happiness, yet once he is granted just that he he can not even show his face to those he aspired to be. Gatsby is constantly held back by his blue life despite his effort to ignore it which is a clear depiction of a deceiving the world through outward appearances.
Forrest Gump is a character who is intellectually disabled or as said in the movie “Retarded.” One of the first signs of his disability was in the scene when Forrest’s mother and he were in the principal’s office talking about Forrest IQ test scores (Zemeckis and Roth, 1994). He was below the average range and was suggested to go into special classes or into a special school itself. Forrest’s mother refused to let forest get the easy way out. He was unable to reach the expected goals at school just as one of the symptoms was recognized. Another example of his disability was his unstable legs. Forrest was put into leg supports to help him walk because of his condition he had trouble with some motor abilities. As well as being below the IQ range, Forrest lacked in language development and speech. He also lacked in social skills. Throughout the movie, Forrest didn’t have many friends. The girl he loved believed he/7 was unable to understand the feeling of love because of his disability. In another scene, Forrest was sent to Vietnam to serve his country in the war. While there, a bombing attack occurred. Forrest ran straight into a bombed forest to rescue other soldier’s (Zemeckis and Roth, 1994). His disability made him impulsive solider and lacked the acknowledgement of danger. Forrest was shot in the butt while doing so and thought it was a bug that bit him. Also in the movie, Forrest was recognized for his duty in the war he met the president and pulled down his pants on television, in the white house (Zemeckis and Roth, 1994). Because his Intellectual disability made it difficult for him to understand social roles and norms in
In particular, the color blue symbolizes the disappointment in his life. F. Scott Fitzgerald utilizes the color blue to act as a symbol of the disillusioned, lonely lifestyle Jay Gatsby lives. The appearance of the color blue in certain aspects of Gatsby’s life reveals Gatsby’s inner loneliness. In the beginning of the book, Gatsby throws large, extravagant parties at his house in hopes that Daisy will arrive.
Colors can invoke feelings for people. Certain colors are attached to moods. Red can represent anger, green sometimes represents envy and blue can represent calm or even melancholy. Much art, music, and literature is dependent on color to convey the intended mood of the artist. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby, a man with wealth, power, and possessions is on a quest for the dream that he will never attain. He cannot have all that he already has plus the true love of Daisy. Fitzgerald creates his own unique motifs surrounding certain colors and uses these colors to emphasize the futility in Gatsby’s quest for this dream. Through the use
When F. Scott Fitzgerald was writing The Great Gatsby, he was not only working as a writer, he was an artist painting a piece through his words. While making the lives of fictional characters come to life for the reader, one of the main tools he used to do this was by using the symbolism of colors. Nick Carraway, the main character, befriends many of the wealthiest and corrupt people of Long Island, while exposing them for what they truly are in the journeys he endures with them. His extravagant use of colors to illustrate scenes and characters helps us determine the symbolism behind them, and how they’re used to expose the true personalities of the characters.
You have the Civil Rights movement, dealing with exceptionally difficult concepts such as desegregation as well as the Vietnam War simmering beneath the world’s consciousness. Forrest Gump depicts how very chaotic and confusing it was to grow into yourself in that difficult time period. Forrest sees all through a slightly distorted point of view. He is not completely cognizant of the underlying themes of physical abuse, sex, drugs and the movement of the counter culture against Vietnam and the “establishment”. Forrest has some very dismal encounters with all of these with no complete understanding of what is going on.
People see movies to get a momentary escape from reality and be engaged in a fictional perfect world or other genres that may snatch their emotions. The emotions seen in the audience are created by using ethos, logos, and pathos throughout the movie. Ethos is what portrays the credibility throughout the film such as using famous actors or placing historically accurate scenes in the film. Logos is represented by the logical scenes throughout the film such as the fame of the film including its rating and awards or the historically accurate scenes representing the time the film was set in. Finally, pathos is what grabs the emotions of the audience from the dramatic scenes throughout the movie. In the movie Forrest Gump, Robert Zemeckis portrays ethos, logos, and pathos several times throughout the film to pull the audience in and leave them as if they were living in the film.
When Gatsby looked across the bay that separated him and Daisy he called it a “Blue Lawn” which represents his loneliness and longing for Daisy. His thoughts of Daisy make him sad or lonely. He throws parties which in the movie there is a lot of blue in them. This is ironic because he is feeling lonely but there is a lot of people around him. He does not know most of the people at his parties, he just hopes that one day Daisy will show up to one of his big parties. This loneliness he experiences could have influenced his color choice for the party. (The Great Gatsby)
Symbolism is a big part in how people express certain feelings or represent important items. The American Dream is a huge achievement that everyone wants to reach. Whether people want to admit it or not, it is a symbol all it’s self. It can be anything really, a great job, a family, white picket fence, even music or attending concerts of your favorite band. The American Dream is something that makes you so happy and what you can achieve or want achieve in your lifetime. The main AMerican Dream is money, a family, and happiness. In The Great Gatsby the american dream is a green light.There are several different colors for the different symbols in the book which are portrayed throughout the book often, and in the right context. Each character is put with that color and in different scenes for different reasons. Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, and Nick Carraway all portrayed the same color symbol; yellow which stands for death and or/ corruption.